When apples or other fruits, and/or vegetables, and/or fish, and/or other foods, are stored in controlled atmosphere warehouses or cold storage, they are generally stored in wooden bins in the United States. These wooden bins have a tendency to draw down moisture from the fruits or vegetables or other foods. The most accurate measurement of these moisture losses is seven (7%) percent in the apple industry. Thus, an apple grower who has a 10,000 bin apple crop is expected, in reference to reduced volume and/or reduced weight, to lose 700 bins of apples as a result of moisture loss. When growers realize between $150.00 to $200.00 per bin net return, this constitutes a loss per 10,000 bins of approximately $140,000.00. Another problem resulting, when using wooden bins is their damage through normal operations in the orchard or warehouse environments. When a wooden bin is damaged it must be either discarded or sent to a jobber for repair. The user either loses the bin and its value, or loses the benefit of its use during a repair time.
Wooden bins also facilitate the growth of mold, bacteria and other fruit and vegetable diseases which accelerate spoilage of the food products being transported and stored.
When warehouses transport wooden bins to the growers, the grower is charged all transportation costs. These wooden bins are not collapsible and as a result multiple trips from the warehouse to the orchards or other agricultural producers' fields are required. This transportation cost is a fixed cost of production, which must be absorbed by the grower, as fruit and vegetable prices historically have been relatively stable for the past twenty years. Therefore there is a need to overcome some or all of these problems by improving bins used in handling, loading, transporting, and storing, vegetables, fruits, and other foods.
It is understood, a plastic container or bin is available for use which is not specifically designed for pallet handling and other handling equipment and handling techniques associated with handling wooden bins. Also this plastic container is stackable only to two bins in height, and cannot be knocked down. It may have a smaller receiving volume than the wooden bins.